In yesterday's Observer there was a piece by Jamie Doward about the influence of exaggerated online customer reviews. The gist of the article was that research from the Economic Journal had found that where there were lots of reviews on a product or service, there tended to be a greater amount of extreme (positive or negative) reviews, as those posting the reviews vie for influence and cut-through. The report recommends that a more unambiguous, binary system of yes/no or for/against would be more effective (after all that's what we use in a referendum) and that we should more dismissive of extreme reviews where there are plenty of comments on a product or service.
While this is interesting, does it tell us anything new? I would suggest that most consumers who shop, book and reserve online are pretty savvy and take extreme reviews with at least a pinch of salt or are already inclined to ignore them. The overtly gushing hotel review on TripAdvisor that comes from an anonymous source and appears to conveniently counter every criticism leveled is as transparent as tracing paper; sticks out like an ugly sore thumb and in the end does the hotel more harm than good. Similarly, a scathing review of a restaurant needs to be viewed in the context of all the other reviews to see how it stacks up. Was it just an off night or is the restaurant consistently being shot down?
As for a simple binary system, I can't see this working for goods like books and music where taste and preference is so subjective. Allowing people to give some colour to their choice provides an opportunity for the nuances behind the thumbs up or thumbs down to be better understood.
The fact that we can all be AA Gill or Mary Portas means that brands, goods and services can no longer hide behind marketing and PR spiel. Those that do are soon rumbled. Brands that walk the walk should encourage their customers to hold them to account and share their experiences. This means being gracious with the good and humble with the not-so-good. The worst they can do is to counter negative reviews with a pretend fan or worse than that, delete anything that is less than positive. What goes online, stays online and the evidence can never been completely erased.
Ultimately, you/we filter; we figure it out for ourselves and we make choices based not only on those anonymous reviews but increasingly on those opinions that originate within our own online and mobile communities which are seen as more trusted. That way, we get the real flavour without the need for any salt - and that's much healthier for all of us!
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